People who bought this also bought...

13 Gifts

When Alyssa must spend the summer with her aunt, uncle, and bratty cousin Emily in Willow Falls she thinks it’s a good time to start over. She’ll be turning 13 after all. What Alyssa doesn’t know is that this charmed town has something big in store for her on her 13th birthday.

Every Soul a Star

Unlike the thousands converging at Moon Shadow to witness a total solar eclipse, Ally calls the isolated campground home. Bree shields herself in a cloak of good looks and popularity, but there is something within her no one suspects. And Jack, overweight and socially inept, finds himself on the verge of a startling possibility.

Graceful

Grace has powers to alter people's fates and is guided by hints left behind by Angelica, the magician from the first books. It's supposed to take a few years for Grace's powers to return full force - but something's affecting the magic in the town of Willow Falls, and Grace needs to do something now! Luckily she's got the help of all her friends...if she can just keep them safe from their own choices and all the pizza her powers produce - which is much harder than she ever imagined.

The Candymakers

ALA Schneider Family Book Award-winning author Wendy Mass offers this tasty treat of a tale sure to appeal to any listener’s sweet tooth. The Candymakers follows 12-year-olds Logan, Philip, Daisy, and Miles as each tries to invent a candy even better than the Oozing Crunchorama. But with these contestants—who can detect chocolate by touch and lift 50 lbs. of taffy as if it weighed no more than a loaf of bread—it’s going to be a close race.

The Last Present

In 11 Birthdays, Amanda and her best friend, Leo, stopped speaking to each other for a year. What happened when they started talking again led to the adventure of a lifetime. Now they haven't spoken for another year - and the result is even more bizarre. This time it's not just about them. Their friend's little sister, Grace, has fallen into a strange frozen state on her tenth birthday. Amanda and Leo quickly realize that Angelina D'Angelo - the mysterious old woman behind all of the magical happenings in Willow Falls - is involved.

Leap Day

Today is a big day for Josie Taylor - she has play auditions and a driver's test. But even more importantly, she is celebrating her sweet 16 and her fourth birthday - she was born on Leap Day. Told from Josie's perspective and the perspective of her friends and family, this entertaining tale will ring true for every teenage listener.

Counting by 7s

Willow Chance is a 12-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life...until now. Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Jeremy Fink has big plans for this summer with his best friend Lizzy, a notorious troublemaker (and no, he does not have a secret crush on her). He has everything he needs within a few blocks of his home, so he never has to leave his little neighborhood. And this summer, he officially becomes a teenager.

The Running Dream

Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run? As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself....

Fish in a Tree

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of.

Out of My Mind

Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom - the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy.

One for the Murphys

Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household.

When You Reach Me

By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it's safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner.

But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda's mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note.

My Life in Pink and Green

Twelve-year-old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem solver. After the local homecoming queen shows up at her family's struggling drugstore with a beauty disaster that Lucy helps to fix, Lucy has a long line of makeover customers for every school dance and bat mitzvah. But all the makeup tips in the world won't help save the pharmacy. If only she could find a way to make the pharmacy the center of town again - a place where people want to spend time, like in the old days.

Rules

Catherine, a 12-year-old girl with big responsibilities, loves her autistic younger brother David and makes lists of rules she thinks will help him get by. But she often feels that her parents, focused on special care for David, forget that she exists, too.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Every year the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.

The War That Saved My Life

Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada's twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn't waste a minute - she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan.

Pi in the Sky

Pi in the Sky stars Joss, the seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe, whose job is to deliver magical pies - ones that happen to hold the secrets of the cosmos. But when planet Earth suddenly disappears, Joss must figure out a way to bring it back - even if it means enlisting the help of an outspoken Earth girl named Annika.

The Mother-Daughter Book Club: Mother-Daughter Book Club Series

The book club is about to get a makeover. Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month. But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Kyle Keeley is the class clown, popular with most kids, (if not the teachers), and an ardent fan of all games: board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative game maker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the building of the new town library. Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other winners must solve every clue and every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route.

The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase

It has been a few months since the Harmonicandy was chosen as the winner of the nationwide candymaking contest. Forever changed by the experience, Logan, Miles, Philip, and Daisy have returned to their regular lives. But when presented with the chance to go on tour to promote the new candy, each has a very different reason for hitting the road. The stakes are a lot higher than they thought, however, and a decades-old secret is revealed.

Because of Mr. Terupt

It's the start of fifth grade for seven kids at Snow Hill School. There's Jessica, the new girl, smart and perceptive, who's having a hard time fitting in; Alexia, a bully, your friend one second, your enemy the next; Peter, class prankster and troublemaker; Luke, the brain; Danielle, who never stands up for herself; shy Anna, whose home situation makes her an outcast; and Jeffrey, who hates school. Only Mr. Terupt, their new and energetic teacher, seems to know how to deal with them all.

Publisher's Summary

When 13-year-old Mia finally reveals a closely-guarded secret, it soon echoes throughout her school. She was born with synesthesia, a neurological cross-wiring that lets her see sounds, taste shapes, and smell colors. To Mia, the letter A glows with faded sunflower-yellow, screeching chalk sizzles with jagged red sparks, and her cat's voice puffs with orange-mango haze. How can Mia "the alien" find acceptance and self-worth?

A VOYA Top-Shelf selection, Wendy Mass' poignant yet funny coming-of-age novel also received the ALA's Schneider Family Book Award.

What the Critics Say

"Mia's voice is believable and her description of the vivid world she experiences, filled with slashes, blurs, and streaks of color, is fascinating....[Her] unique way of experiencing the world is intriguing." (School Library Journal)

This is a very cute book. I teach high school, and some of my kids turned this into a short play. They really enjoyed reading it. For me, the story dragged a bit in the middle. I thought it was Mia was a bit whiny and self-centered at parts (think Harry Potter in books 4/5), but then I remembered she was an 8th grade girl (no offense meant here). Overall, strong start and a super cute end with a LOT of interesting stuff in between. Wendy Mass really sparked my interest. Since this book, I went on to learn more stuff about synesthesia, and it has led me to her other books which seem pretty awesome as well.

Great story that sheds light on a little known topic, synesthesia (sp?). Discusses many topics anyone can relate to, especially young adults. Looking forward to a novel study on this book with my 6th grade literature classes in April.

This book is a treasure. Mia has the ability, or curse, of seeing written and spoken words in color, called synesthesia. The storyline is so interesting and there are very few books on this topic, let alone great Juvenile coming of age stories. She learned early to hide how she perceived words, letters and numbers differently, when fellow students looked at her like she was "weird." She didn't feel she could even tell her parents, so she kept her condition secret and taught herself to compensate for her different way of thinking. This is the part that I found so amazing and wonderful about this character.

As she and the people closest to her learn about her long-kept secret, she learns to deal with being different and explore the possibilities open to her because of her condition. It's a great story from an author who really can relate to younger readers.

Having no clue what to expect when I purchased this book, I was absolutely fascinated by it. I never knew that synesthesia existed in so many different forms, and that it could be so vivid for some. I have a very mild form of synesthesia myself, but <u>A Mango-Shaped Space</u> brought it home to me rather forcefully just <i>how</i> mild it is. Nothing like Mia anyway, that's for sure.

While in some ways a typical YA fiction with the friendship, family and relationship issues that entail, by far most of the book is used to describe Mia's condition and how it affects her every-day life. It's well written, and readers of all ages will find it an interesting way to learn about synesthesia.

The book was read by Danielle Ferland who did a good job of sinking into the background and letting Mia tell the story. She did voices well, even if Mia's father could sound a bit strained at times, and Mia's friend Jenna was occasionally too young-sounding. Minor details though - in general, she was a pleasure to listen to.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.